Strategic Fund Development: Building Profitable Relationships That Last, Third Edition

Leaders as Critical Thinkers

I think. You think. They think. We all think. But how often do we think about thinking and what thinking actually means? Check out the map at www.visualthesaurus.com. Thinking means forming thoughts and making judgments. Thinking links to reasoning and thought process.

Thinking is a mind process where we consider something carefully. And that’s the problem, for your mind process or mine. Because a person’s mind process is affected by his or her life experience—and that can lead to bias, a very human quandary but a quandary nonetheless.

Egocentric thinking results from the unfortunate fact that humans do not naturally consider the rights and needs of others. We do not naturally appreciate the point of view of others nor the limitations of our own point of view.

From The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking, Fifth Edition: Concepts and Tools, by Dr. Richard Paul and Dr. Linda Elder (Dillon Beach, CA: Foundation for Critical Thinking Press, 2008), 21

Click again on the diagram at www.visualthesaurus.com. “Thought” links to view, sentiment, persuasion, idea, opinion, and belief. All that, too, links to one’s own life experience and the focus on the self—one’s own ego—and again the possibility of bias.

The risk actually gets worse. Just consider these two definitions from the visual thesaurus: a personal belief or judgment that is not founded on proof or certainty; and any cognitive content held as true.

Call these assumptions or mental models.55 No matter. ...